The failed accounting “Cognitor” credential might have channeled accountancy into information security at the turn of the 21st Century. However, the accounting profession delayed this responsibility until recently: cybersecurity engagements, client confidentiality and attestations....

This monograph provides a thorough review of earnings quality issues and analysis. Its primary objectives are to help gain a deep understanding of earnings quality and facilitate the development of comprehensive, granular, and contextual earnings quality indicators and analyses. While there are...

We examine how corporate tax avoidance relates to the tone of narrative disclosure in annual reports. Using a difference-in-differences matching approach, we find that firms engaging in more tax avoidance issue more ambiguous annual reports. The positive relation is more pronounced for firms...

This paper investigates the differences in auditing practices between family and non-family firms in Israel using a unique database that includes external audit fees, hours, billing rates, and internal auditing hours. Based on the premise that the number of auditing hours reflects an auditor’s...

We ask nearly 400 CFOs about the definition and drivers of earnings quality, with a special emphasis on the prevalence and detection of earnings misrepresentation. CFOs believe that the hallmarks of earnings quality are sustainability, absence of one-time items, and backing by actual cash flows....

Despite their importance, the discussion of spillover effects in empirical research often misses the rigor dedicated to endogeneity concerns. We analyze a broad set of workhorse models of firm interactions and show that spillovers naturally arise in many corporate finance settings. This has...

This study examines the association between real earnings management, governance attributes, and IPO failure risk. Using a sample of 4174 IPOs firms that went public over the period of 1998-2011, we find evidence that real earnings management and governance attributes are associated with IPO...

For much of the investing public, startup firms represent a relatively undiscovered geyser of potentially fraudulent behavior due to a number of practices inherent in startup governance, funding and valuation. We explain the fundraising and valuation processes of startups and discuss the...

This paper examines banks' disclosures and loss recognition in the financial crisis and identifies several core issues for the link between accounting and financial stability. Our analysis suggests that, going into the financial crisis, banks' disclosures about relevant risk exposures were...

This paper investigates what we can learn from the financial crisis about the link between accounting and financial stability. The picture that emerges ten years after the crisis is substantially different from the picture that dominated the accounting debate during and shortly after the crisis....